COVID-19 Update
- 17 new cases, 463 cases, 37 recoveries, 12 deaths
- A MUCH BIGGER PROBLEM IN LEBANON THAN HAS BEEN ACKNOWLEDGED: Hezbollah organized a media tour to showcase its preparations for combatting COVID-19. The tour included a trip to diagnostic centers, equipped hospitals, and crisis cells' set up by Hezbollah. It is worth noting that The Guardian had published a report Tuesday morning in which unnamed Lebanese officials cast doubt on the reliability of the number of COVID-19 reported infections. According to the newspaper, the problem in Lebanon is "much bigger than has been acknowledged", and Hezbollah has imposed quarantine in several areas in southern towns.
Two African refugees got released after being detained on Monday
- Security forces released the two African refugees, which had been detained Monday night, on a bail of 450,000 Lebanese Liras. They and a larger group of African refugees have been protesting in front of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) offices in Beirut for 7 months, demanding their resettlement, with no response from the agency.
- In a call with Megaphone, a UNHCR spokesperson denied any agency involvement in calling security forces or arresting protesters, adding that its staff has been working from home in compliance with recent government directives. However, the incident is far from the state's first attempt at intimidating the refugees as the agency remains idle. The latest was on March 11, when security forces attacked the tents of protesters many of whom have nowhere else to go - and offered them no alternatives, throwing their belongings in trash bins.
The "Charitable" Government: 400,000 LBP To Families In Need
- If we consider these contributions to be compensation for a month's unemployment, and based on the food prices as listed on the Economy Ministry's website, the government is offering every family, per week: a box of powdered milk, a box of tea, a kilogram of cheese, a kilogram of labneh, and 2 chickens, with some change left to spare. Yet, the government did not define what criteria made a family "in need" and assigned the task of distributing this assistance to the army, raising questions about tying people's sustenance to military institutions.
REPOSTED FROM @Megaphonenews